LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Three people and a business have been charged in federal court with participating in an illegal scheme to export controlled data to China and to defraud the Defense Department.
An indictment was unsealed Wednesday in Kentucky after the arrest of the defendants. Phil Pascoe, 60, and Monica Pascoe, 45, both of Floyds Knobs, Indiana; Scott Tubbs, 59, of Georgetown, Kentucky; and Quadrant Magnetics LLC were charged with violations of the Arms Export Control Act, wire fraud, and smuggling, a statement from the Justice Department said.
The defendants are accused of illegally scheming to send defense-related technical data to a company in China and of unlawfully supplying the Defense Department with earth magnets from China for military items.
Pascoe is the president of Quadrant, a magnetic-technology company that said it was basing its operations in Louisville, WAVE-TV reported.
The defendants are accused of sending drawings to China from 2012 to 2018 that had data about Defense Department equipment, the statement said.
It also alleged that Quadrant Magnetics imported rare earth magnets from China and sold them to two U.S. companies which included them in components sold to the Defense Department. The federal agency doesn’t allow rare earth magnets to be produced or magnetized in China.
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It wasn’t immediately clear whether the defendants had attorneys. Quardrant did not return calls from WAVE-TV.
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